Salesians Mourn Benedict XVI

“A great Pope has gone,” says Rector Major

Salesians Mourn Benedict XVI

(ANS – Rome – December 31, 2022) – The Salesian Family prays for the eternal repose of the emeritus pontiff, thanking Pope Benedict XVI for his expressions of friendship and appreciation.

The Pope Emeritus died on the morning of December 31 in the Vatican at the age of 95. Pope Francis had long ago asked for prayers for his predecessor, as his health had deteriorated.

On hearing the news, Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime said that “we have received the sad news of the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. I say ‘sad news’ because every human loss always leaves a void. But at the same time, his life has been a blessing – a long life lived in total self-giving to the Lord Jesus in his service to the Gospel and to the Church.”

Fr. Fernandez added that “a great Pope has gone to meet his Lord, a great believer, a great theologian and thinker; a man capable of building bridges of communication with the most diverse philosophers, theologians, and intellectuals; a Pope who was respected and who will be even more valued in the years and decades to come; a man and a Pope who knew how to live in simplicity and silence. May the God of life keep him with him. As sons of Don Bosco, and as he taught all his Salesians, today we also say: Long live the Pope!

Joseph Ratzinger was elected as the 265th Pope on April 19, 2005, in the conclave that followed the death of St. John Paul II, and took the name Benedict XVI. He held the See of Peter until February 2013 when, in a historic gesture, he resigned the pontificate.

The Thanks of Two Rectors Major

After Benedict XVI’s resignation on February 28, 2013, the then-Rector Major, Fr. Pascual Chavez, expressed his closeness to the German Pope: “We, the Don Bosco Family spread throughout the world, are deeply grateful for this courageous act of service of our beloved Holy Father, and we accompany him with our sincere sympathy and devotion and, as he himself asked of us, with our constant prayer. Pope Benedict XVI, who has shown so many acts of kindness and affection toward our family, was a true gift of God to the Church and to the world today.

The current Rector Major, during his visit to Salesian Spain in 2016, called for greater recognition of the Pope Emeritus: “I am convinced that we have Pope Francis because before him we had Pope Benedict XVI, a very intelligent man, one of deep faith, a great theologian, and very free to do what he did.”